SpongeBob SquarePants Theory May Reveal Why Plankton Will Never Get the Krabby Patty Secret Ingredient

Batman and the Joker; Spider-Man and the Green Goblin; perhaps the Rebel Alliances and the Galactic Empire. Some rivalries and pairings will forever go down as iconic in the fictional character Hall of Fame. Despite all kinds of cutthroat pairings, some of which are listed above, there might not be any storied rivalry as important as Plankton and his pursuit of the Krusty Krab secret recipe, a legitimate story for the ages.

Though he's gotten close to walking out of the Krusty Krab with the fabled recipe more than once, Plankton's never been able to successfully reproduce the iconic burger combination in the twenty-year history of SpongeBob SquarePants. But why? One deep-cutting fan theory suggests Plankton's missing one necessary ingredient: love.

As u/Sahara-JJ shared on a popular theory subreddit, it all comes down to the animated villain being too evil of a character to really care of about the recipe. The theorist uses a season five episode called "Friend or Foe," as their primary supporting evidence, reminding SpongeBob fans that at one point, Mr. Krabs and the baddie were best of friends in the restaurant business.

One thing led to another and a fight between the two hopeful restaurateurs resulted in the bottom part of being ripped off of the recipe — the part Plankton kept. On that part, the only ingredient listed was "chum," leading Plankton to form a restaurant based solely on the disgusting fish bait.

But, as the theorist points out, the word "chum" has multiple meanings and in this case, suggests the word is akin to what a pirate might call a friend or acquaintance. Because of that, Plankton's been building his entire life and the wrong thing when all he'd needed was a friend to help him come make the patties.

The legendary villain will have another chance at stealing the secret formula in The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, a live-action animated film set to serve as a prequel to the first two SpongeBob films. Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, and Michael Kvamme, former series writer Tim Hill is set to direct. The entire voice cast of the series is expected to reprise their roles in the film, including Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, and Carolyn Lawrence.

The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge is due out May 22, 2020. SpongeBob SquarePants is currently airing its twelfth season and it's been renewed for a 13th, presumably set to debut next year.